Year 7 Excursion – Mary MacKillop Place

Year 7 students visited Mary MacKillop Place to visit the museum and the resting place of Mary MacKillop. Students had a chance to learn about the College patron and her call to serve God by educating the poor and starting the Sisters of St Joseph. As part of the day students also took part in a workshop focusing on the qualities of Mary MacKillop, and in particular, how she is an example for Catholics living and explored her inspirational quotes.

Lent

During Lent – Catholics are called to repentance, reconciliation, fasting, prayer and almsgiving through the Gospel of Matthew. This call takes us to the heart of the penitential season of Lent: a conversion of heart that comes from a renewed and revitalised relationship with our God who is gracious and merciful and bestows abundant life on all.

As Catholics we know that we are called to live life to the full. During Lent, this ‘joyful season’, we are called to give expression to the ‘greatest commandment of the law’, the love of God and the love of one’s neighbour which is at the heart of Project Compassion.

This Lent, after the ash is washed away and we move through this journey to Easter, let us hold in our prayers the oppressed, the hungry, the broken-hearted, the captive, the prisoner. Can we fast so that others may have more of the world’s resources? In a time ‘when the divide between the mega-rich and the forgotten poor is ever widening’, may we bring the good news to those most deeply affected by the inequities in our world — let us take home a Project Compassion box or envelope set and give generously to some of our neighbours who are amongst the poorest and most vulnerable people in our world.

Project Compassion 2017 – “Love your Neighbour”

During Lent the College community will be supporting the works of Caritas through making donations to Project Compassion, during CLC, in order to show love to one’s neighbour, both near and far. Throughout Lent Catholics are challenged to give up a luxury item and donate the money usually spent in buying this item to the poor. Students are encouraged to not buy drinks, chocolates, chips or cakes once a week and donate this money to Project Compassion. Working together as a community, a donation of as little as $1 per week can collectively make a big difference in the lives of those less fortunate.

Lenten Reflection

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT – Face to face with temptation

Pope Francis tells us that a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity – as offered to Jesus in the Gospel – leads to both the misuse of available resources and the exclusion of the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

In the Gospel, the same Spirit who baptised Jesus in the Jordan led him out into the wilderness, where he encountered self-doubt and was tempted to accept power over ‘all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour’. Through prayer, Jesus was strengthened for ministry and service to go and ‘be’ the good news of God’s mercy and love.

During Lent, the Church, through today’s Gospel and the words of Pope Francis, invites us to take up the call to fast, pray and give alms. Project Compassion enables us to pray so that we will be strengthened to fast and give (alms). In this way we can help neighbours like Dinia in the Philippines to find healing and peace, and to know herself as a valued member of her community with a role in creating a brighter future for her children.

A retreat into our own ‘wilderness’ leads us to a place deep within ourselves where we encounter this servant, Jesus, inviting us to take seriously this Lenten call.

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT – Promise & transfiguration

During these early weeks of Lent we hear of Spirit, wilderness, temptation, wild beasts, angels. The gospel of the second week of lent we hear of the loving promise made between God and Abraham. On Mount Tabor, God speaks of Jesus as ‘beloved’ son and urges Peter, James and John to “Listen to him”. He urges them to listen to what Jesus has been saying about the direction his ministry will now take — Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and his death and eventual resurrection, a journey on which we, as people of a loving Covenant, are invited.

This journey is intended to help us discern what really matters, and to recognise that our responsibility for others goes beyond our immediate community. Project Compassion urges us to recognise Martina from Timor-Leste as a neighbour, full of dignity and grace. She has taken the long journey to transform her life, make important links with a supportive community and create a better future for herself and her children.

Our God on Mount Tabor who sends the Son ‘not to be served but to serve’ invites us on this journey to transform the world through the sacrifices of our daily life.

Mrs Flanagan, Leader of Learning – Religious Education